Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The self-willed and proud never learn the worth of devotion.
Beguiled from the very Origin, they gamble the game of life away — and lose.
Guru Amar Das is saying: the saddest loss is never learning what the game of life is for.
Here is the other side of the picture. The manmukh is the self-willed person, the one who follows only their own mind. They do not know the saar, the real worth, of devotion. They are not against it so much as unable to see why it matters. It is like someone asleep who cannot see why waking up matters.
The loss is told with a dice game, a picture this raag has used before. Joo-ai baajee haaree — they gambled the game of life and lost. Even so, the verse keeps the same deep mystery as the hymns around it. Dharahu aap khu-aa-i-an — their straying is allowed from the Origin itself. Those who lose at the board are still inside the House whose game it is. And this raag insists that the House brings its own back home.
What do you now value that you once could not see the point of — and what changed?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI